Asghar

Seeds of Peace Fellow, 2019

IMPACT: SOCIAL

Challenge

Religious extremism in Pakistan causes great instability, which leads to poverty, which then turns people towards religious extremism.

Solution

Use education to counter threatening narratives and promote religious tolerance and pluralism.

Asghar grew up in a tribal setup and has very closely seen the miseries faced by tribal communities in Balochistan, which has given rise to extremism. He started campaigns to overcome these threatening narratives, which yielded in shape to three different for-profit and non-profit ventures: DEWA Foundation, The Joycation, and Da Pohaanu Café.

Asghar is an activist for peace and love, a social entrepreneur, and an educator. He is a nominee for the Nelson Mandela Award, an Acumen Fellow 2016, and winner of The Rising Rhino Award. Asghar received his Masters in Business Administration from BUITEMS Kwatta (Quetta) in 2012.

“I could have been a jihadi or a freedom fighter. But education made the difference!”